Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she founded an independent research institute, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens.
In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry « for the development of a method for genome editing » (through CRISPR). This was the first science Nobel Prize ever won by two women only.
Biography
Born in 1968 in Juvisy-sur-Orge in France, Charpentier studied biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (which became the Faculty of Science of Sorbonne University) in Paris. She was a graduate student at the Institut Pasteur from 1992 to 1995 and was awarded a research doctorate. Charpentier’s PhD work investigated molecular mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance.
Her paternal grandfather was an Armenian who escaped to France during the Armenian genocide and met his wife in Marseille.
CRISPR/Cas9
The work of deciphering the molecular mechanisms of a bacterial immune system, called CRISPR/Cas9, and repurposing it into a tool for genome editing. In particular, she uncovered a novel mechanism for the maturation of a non-coding RNA which is pivotal in the function of CRISPR/Cas9. Specifically, Charpentier demonstrated that a small RNA called tracrRNA is essential for the maturation of crRNA.
In 2011, Charpentier met Jennifer Doudna at a research conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and they began a collaboration. Working with Doudna’s laboratory, Charpentier’s laboratory showed that Cas9 could be used to make cuts in any DNA sequence desired. The method they developed involved the combination of Cas9 with easily created synthetic « guide RNA » molecules. Synthetic guide RNA is a chimera of crRNA and tracrRNA; therefore, this discovery demonstrated that the CRISPR-Cas9 technology could be used to edit the genome with relative ease. Researchers worldwide have employed this method successfully to edit the DNA sequences of plants, animals, and laboratory cell lines. Since its discovery, CRISPR has revolutionized genetics by allowing scientists to edit genes to probe their role in health and disease and to develop genetic therapies with the hope that it will prove safer and more effective than the first generation of gene therapies.
In 2013, Charpentier co-founded CRISPR Therapeutics and ERS Genomics along with Shaun Foy and Rodger Novak.
Recognition & Awards
- Emmanuelle Charpentier in the Senate Chamber of York University in 2016, after giving her Gairdner Foundation International Award Lecture
- Emmanuelle Charpentier in the Senate Chamber of York University in 2016, after giving her Gairdner Foundation International Award Lecture
- In 2015, Time magazine designated Charpentier one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world (together with Jennifer Doudna). Charpentier Awards are as follows:
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Gruber Foundation International Prize in Genetics, the Leibniz Prize, the Tang Prize, the Japan Prize, and the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. She has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award jointly with Jennifer Doudna and Francisco Mojica.
- 2009 – Theodor Körner Prize for Science and Culture
- 2011 – The Fernström Prize for young and promising scientists
- 2014 – Alexander von Humboldt Professorship
- 2014 – The Göran Gustafsson Prize for Molecular Biology (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
- 2014 – Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research (shared with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2014 – The Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (shared with Feng Zhang and Jennifer Doudna)
- 2015 – Time 100: Pioneers (shared with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2015 – The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (shared with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2015 – Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
- 2015 – The Ernst Jung Prize in Medicine
- 2015 – Princess of Asturias Awards (shared with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2015 – Gruber Foundation International Prize in Genetics (shared with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2015 – Carus Medal [de], from German National Academy of Science, Leopoldina
- 2015 – Massry Prize
- 2015 – The Family Hansen Award
- 2016 – Otto Warburg Medal
- 2016 – L’Oréal-UNESCO « For Women in Science » Award
- 2016 – Leibniz Prize from the German Research Foundation
- 2016 – Canada Gairdner International Award (shared with Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang)
- 2016 – Warren Alpert Foundation Prize
- 2016 – Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (jointly with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2016 – Tang Prize (shared with Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang)
- 2016 – HFSP Nakasone Award (jointly with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2016 – Knight (Chevalier) French National Order of the Legion of Honour
- 2016 – Meyenburg Prize
- 2016 – Wilhelm Exner Medal
- 2016 – John Scott Award
- 2017 – BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (jointly with Jennifer Doudna and Francisco Mojica)
- 2017 – Japan Prize (jointly with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2017 – Albany Medical Center Prize (jointly with Jennifer Doudna, Luciano Marraffini, Francisco Mojica, and Feng Zhang)
- 2017 – Pour le Mérite
- 2018 – Kavli Prize in Nanoscience (jointly with Jennifer Doudna and Virginijus Šikšnys)
- 2018 – Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
- 2018 – Bijvoet Medal of the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research of Utrecht University
- 2018 – Harvey Prize (jointly with Jennifer Doudna and Feng Zhang)
- 2019 – Scheele Award of the Swedish Pharmaceutical Society
- 2019 – Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2020 – Wolf Prize in Medicine (jointly with Jennifer Doudna)
- 2020 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with Jennifer Doudna)
